That as industry after industry, as contractor after contractor, as company after company told them of the constraints around labour, costs and finance when it came to housing.
There wasn't a hope in hell of increasing the build numbers from what they already were.
And there was even less of a hope that KiwiBuild, at 10,000 new houses a year on top of all of that, would ever see the light of day if they insisted on ploughing forward with bans and restrictions.
Were they that naive? Or were they Machiavellian?
Did they, because you can quite rightly ask, given how bleeding obvious it all was, simply spout what they wanted to spout during the campaign? Simply to lure in the gullible and get the votes - knowing full well that if they got to government they could never deliver on what they said they would.
I still don't know for sure. But my guess is the former, and if I am right, that is a hopeless position for a government to be in.
As staggering as it would appear to be, they don't strike me as nasty, as barefaced dishonest people.
But they do strike me as bewildered, inexperienced and perhaps surprised they got across the line last October.
You could argue that these backdowns are good, at least because it shows they are prepared to see the error of their ways. And that they are capable of listening.
But having handed out that small bouquet, one is left with the glaringly large brickbat.
That almost beggars belief, that the things they couldn't see were staring at them, so large, so obvious, so alarmingly obvious.
You can rightly feel nervous about the direction of this country.
Two more surveys this week showing falling confidence, and on the housing and finance policy backflips alone you can see why.
The growth number last week that was less than what it has been.
There is a massive "L" plate on this lot, and the damage is starting to get tangible.
